Through the Looking Glass
by TookSisters
Summary: A normal school girl happens to come across a strange mirror in the woods. Next thing she knows a spider-lady is after her and she'd running for her life through a strange world with a girl she barely knows. Rated T to be on the safe side.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Alice in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat, When the Higurashi Cry, Full Metal Alchemist, or Bizenghast.**

So yeah. This is just something I submitted for the Short Story assignment in Language Arts Class. It's not really very Alice in Wonderland-y, but more like a modernized, manga-fied, twisted thing-a-ma-jig that just so happens to have stuff from Alice in Wonderland in it. Just to let you know. So, sit back and enjoy!

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I dashed across the sidewalk as fast as possible without completely dropping my binder, notebook, and pencil pouch. I couldn't believe I was so late! Ms. Peterson would give me a detention for sure! Which would mean I wouldn't be able to see the next episode of When they Cry, which came on right after school- and it was the grand finale, too! As I began to wallow in the miseries that this one detention would cause me, I, being my brilliantly intelligent self, decided not to watch where I was going and trip over a rock. It was a very small rock, about the size of my pinky. Once I was on the ground, my History supplies scattered around me, I decided to procrastinate and glare with all my being the pebble that had caused my demise. I was certain that it was just about to explode from all the hate I was sending toward it, when a loud 'crack!' from the woods made me turn my gaze to the forest surrounding the Bradley Middle School Campus. I saw no signs of what could've made the noise, and began to pick up my stuff. That's when I noticed the sun's light reflecting off an object a few yards into the woods, almost blocked completely from view by the thick trees and undergrowth.

"Hmm… Well, I'm already late, so why not?" I mumbled to myself and waltzed over to the woods, completely abandoning my history supplies. A bit into the forest, I found something that definitely was not supposed to be there: an ornate, full-length, mirror. I stared at it for a while. It looked pretty old, and I liked old stuff. I wondered what it was doing there and stood there staring at it until a bird decided to startle me out of my daydreaming by flying dangerously close to my face. After jumping about 5 feet in the air, my brain began functioning again. 'I really should be getting to class…' I thought with a sigh, 'But it's such a pretty mirror….' I reached out a hand to feel the smooth glass, but, lo and behold, my hand didn't stop at the surface of the mirror, but went right through the glass. I blinked and pulled my hand back out, then slid it back in. It felt cool, and wet, but when I pulled my hand out again, I found that it was perfectly dry. Enraptured by the strange phenomenon, I found myself reaching the entire length of my arm into the mirror, and then I just sort of walked through it. I blinked and looked behind me. There was no mirror. I looked ahead of me. There was no mirror. I raised an eyebrow and turned back towards where the sidewalk was hidden by the trees, deciding that eating left over pizza for breakfast was not a good idea because it made me hallucinate.

Five minutes later, I stopped. I still hadn't reached a sidewalk. I walked in another direction, just incase I had missed it. Five minutes later, I stopped again.

"Where the heck is the stupid sidewalk?" I screamed, startling the birds out of a nearby tree. "Grr… Bloody sidewalk. It just _had_ to go and disappear, didn't it? Of course it did- why would it stay in one place? Why would it help me in the slightest way to get to History class? Why would it- Gah! Stop talking to yourself! It gives off the impression that you're insane!"

"I'll say." I whipped around to face whoever was speaking, only to find nothing there. I froze, listening, but heard nothing.

"Who's there?" I called out cautiously.

A giggle seemed to echo from everywhere at once. "Do you really want to know?"

I opened my mouth to shout 'duh- why else would I be asking' when I decided that it would really be much less problematic if I just went on with my trying to figure out where I was. "You know what, no. I do _not_ want to know who you are. In fact, I was just leaving. Good_bye_." With that said I turned on my heel and began walking at a brisk pace.

"That's the way you just came from."

I stopped. "Really? I hadn't noticed."

"Well then," A person dropped down in front of me. "Why are you doing it?"

I screamed, before I realized that the one in front of me had been on a tree branch above me and was now hanging by their knees. She had dark hair and dark skin, and brown eyes that almost looked black. Her hands were folded behind her head and her jean-clad legs wrapped seemingly effortlessly around the branch.

"Geez, could you be a little louder? I think the people on the other side of the world still have their eardrums intact."

I frowned and attempted to think of something witty to reply with. I couldn't come up with anything and the girl was beginning to grin widely, knowing she had won. I narrowed my eyes at her and promptly spun on my heel and stalked off.

"Oh, come back. I was just kidding!"

I didn't listen but just kept on walking until she was out of sight. After, well, I really have no idea of how long it was, I'm terrible at keeping track of time, but eventually I was getting tired and sat down by a mushroom. Then I noticed that the mushroom was about my height. I stared blankly at it for a minute, and then slowly brought my hand up to touch it.

"AGH!"

I screamed and jumped in the air as a cry sounded from somewhere close by. It sounded like it was in pain, so I rushed around the mushroom to see what was going on, and nearly tripped over a person.

She had scarves wrapped around her head and face- only letting two brilliantly green eyes show. I couldn't tell you anymore about her appearance, because she was submerged from shoulders down in a hole in the ground, with a net laying over her.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" I asked, kneeling down and removing the wooden pegs keeping the net in place.

"Oh, yes, yes… I must have stumbled into one of those traps that those nasty poachers set up."

"Poachers?" I repeated as I pulled out the third peg.

"Yes, yes, there's a group of them that hunt here. They're not supposed to but no one can catch them."

My mind flashed back to that girl in the trees. Was she a poacher? But, there was no way- she couldn't have been much older than me!

"Um, how old are these poachers?" I asked, pulling the net off the old woman and holding out a hand to help her up.

"Oh, it varies." She said as she grasped my outstretched hand. "But, that really doesn't matter… Because there are no poachers in these woods, girl!"

My eyes widened as she suddenly grabbed my and threw me (with much more strength than what was natural for an old lady) into the trunk of an old tree. I hit it with a 'thunk' and slid down in a daze, the wind knocked out of me.

The so-called 'old lady' pulled off the scarves and crawled out of the ground using eight legs. Yes, eight legs. She had abnormally pale skin and a strange green fur that seemed to make up and outfit fitting over her torso and legs, but I could see no seems where the cloth changed to skin. It was as if the 'outfit' was a part of her. Her fingernails were long and pointed, and looked at if they could easily pierce through a solid piece of iron. Also, a green, jester-like hat sprouted from the top of her head and two black triangles were painted below her eyes.

"Bali-Lali is so pleased to meet you girlie. Won't you stay for lunch? It's a middle schooler specialty!" She began to cackle and I tried to back away around the tree, but I moved only a little less than a foot when one of her legs was slammed down in my path.

"Now, now, leaving without saying goodbye is rude manners."

"Yeah? Well, in my book, eating your guest is even worse!"

Bali-Lali's head whipped around and she growled at the girl standing on the tree branch above me.

"Hey! It's you!" I shouted.

The girl glanced at me. "What? Are you going to tell me to leave and let yourself get eaten?" she said sarcastically.

"Uh, no." I stated in a 'duh' tone of voice.

"Then shut up and keep still."

I pouted and crossed my arms, momentarily forgetting that I was on the menu for that afternoon and instead choosing to dwell on the slight annoyance that the girl inspired in me.

"You're the one who needs to stop blabbering, girl!" Bali-Lali shouted from behind the tree branch. "I've got you now!" She shot a piece of web from her mouth towards the one on the tree branch.

The girl got a slightly ticked expression on her face and I heard her mutter '_well_' before she promptly vanished. She reappeared behind the woman… Spider…. Thing, and kicked it forward. It landed in a pile to the left of me.

The second it hit the ground, nets sprung up and the ground gave way beneath her… it. She was trapped in the same type of thing I had set her loose from.

"That's like the thing from before…" I muttered aloud.

"Yeah, usually when something's trapped like that, there's a reason." I jumped and spun around to face the girl. "Yo. I'm Austin. Call me Tashie." (I had to think for a moment before deciding that there was no logic behind this at all and accepted it) "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Um, well, I'm Jo. Well, I'm actually Josephine, but everyone calls me Jo. And I'm lost."

"Hm, fair enough." Tashie muttered and began walking away. She stopped after a few paces. "Well? Are you coming?"

"Oh! Right!" I jogged over to her as she started walking again. After a few minutes of silence I decided to break the quite.

"So…. Where are we going?"

"School."

"What school do you go to?"

"Bradley Middle School."

"Really? I've never seen you around before…"

"And I've never seen you before. Wow, we have something in common. Let's be best friends."

"You're really rude, you know."

"Who?"

"You!"

"Me?"

"Yes, you!"

"Me what?"

"You're rude!"

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"I'm what?"

"Rude!"

"Who is?"

"You!"

"Me?"

"Yes, you- argh! Arguing with you is pointless."

"Glad you see it my way."

I pursed my lips and made forceful grabbing motion in the air at Tashie's back as she skipped off into the forest. 'I'mgoingtokillherI'mgoingtokillherI'mgoingtokillher!' I thought over and over in my head as I stomped after the happy girl, snapping as many branches under my feet and kicking as many small pebbles as possible.

Once we reached the school, however, my anger was gone in a flash as I gaped in awe at the building in front of me. It had large, mosaic windows; each glowing faintly, the walls were made of neatly cut blocks of stone, and a giant arched entrance stood near us. There were several towers, and I guessed that each one had their own spiral staircase, and a long bridge connecting the 'school' (it was more like a castle than anything) with a small tower across the grounds that I didn't know what it was for. Though there was one thing I was certain of: This was most definitely _not_ my school.

Tashie led me swiftly through the hallways, passing numerous mystical and (at some points) gruesome sights. In fact, there was one particular time when we passed through the Hall of Heads…

"That. Is. Disgusting." I said bluntly, gazing at a severed head that seemed to float above a plaque reading '_Mitchell Oleander Robert Percival Duell, 3__rd__ Headmaster of Bradley Middle School. He is known for his excessive cruelty towards twins and his hobby to lock young mistresses who misbehaved in small, dark cupboards._'

"Hm?" Tashie stopped and looked behind her to see my staring at the drop of blood sliding off the sever point and going to join the puddle of dark red liquid on the platform below. "What is?"

"I think it's turning green…"

"Oh- that'd be my fault." She said as she glided over to peer over my shoulder. I glanced at her questioningly. "I sort of neglected to clean them last week."

"Just sort of." I muttered dryly. "I don't blame you. That's just messed up."

"Not really. It's just the Hall of Heads."

"Oh, yes. Perfectly normal." I was certain the wound would start oozing puss at any moment now. "What type of a school has a hallway lined with _human heads_?"

"They're not actually human heads… Well, I guess they are, but it's like, they decide to sign this contract thing, where, when they die, their head comes here and represents their term thing at the school. It's sort of like donating an organ."

"… That's still disgusting."

Tashie rolled her eyes.

We were then walking down yet another hallway, when I saw a familiar grin from the shadows.

"Ah!" I cried out, causing Tashie to jump a little. "It's the Cheshire Cat!" I scurried over to the large, sculptured, feline head that grinned out at me. "That's so cool!"

"You know about the Cheshire Cat?" Tashie asked, looking at me in surprise.

"Well, duh! I love Alice in Wonderland! I want pictures of the Cheshire Cat at my school!"

"Um… Why?"

"Why? Because it's awesome, that's why!"

I got a really weird look for that statement. "He's everywhere. It's always- 'you want to grow up and be a great Warper like the Cheshire Cat, right? So do your homework and wash your shoes!'"

"Warper?"

"Oh, it's what we learn here. The art of Warping from place to place. You've seen me do it when we were with that Bali-Lali."

I thought back to how she had been seemingly teleporting around in the forest and I made an 'oh' shape with my lips. Before I had the chance to investigate any further, however, the sound of footsteps could be heard.

"Oh snap!" That was the last thing I heard Tashie say before someone rounded the corner and faced us.

He was a middle-aged man with dark hair and dark clothes. He surveyed Tashie through suspicious eyes and spoke after a moment. "Shouldn't you be in class, Natasha?"

I gulped and glanced at Tashie. Something told me that I wouldn't be all too welcome here if she told him just how I had come to be there.

"Oh, hi, Mr. Donnelly. I'm taking the visiting student around for the day. Principal Douglass told me to."

"Really? Perhaps I should accompany you." He obviously was making no effort at hiding his suspicion.

"Um, all right. We're going to Ms. Parvarti's class."

He hesitated, and then glared at Tashie. "I'll look into this matter soon." With one final, suspicious glance at the two of us (who smiled up at him with as much innocence we could muster) continued off down the hall.

Once he was gone I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, that was close-" Tashie cut me off with a quick 'sh!' and set off at a brisk pace

"Just keep walking." She hissed quietly at me.

I gave her an odd look but complied to her request and obediently followed in silence. After walking for a ways she began to whisper to me again.

"He's going to follow us for a while- just to make sure I'm telling the truth." She pointed at a portrait on the wall.

I glanced at her and then the portrait, and then back at her. "Am I… missing something here?"

"Oh, I'm just going to randomly point to stuff while I talk to you, so that it looks like I'm showing you around."

"Ah. So, where are we going?"

"Towards Ms. Parvarti's Astronomy class." She began to speak louder, "… And that's a statue honoring the Oni attack of 1982."

I nodded; pretending to know what she was talking about- I had enough sense to figure out that Mr. Donnelly was in hearing range again. "Cool."

Things carried on that way for quite a while, until, at last, Tashie deemed it safe for us to assume Mr. Donnelly was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whew. Good thing he didn't catch us. I've already got in trouble twice this month for skipping…"

For a moment I thought she meant that she had been yelled at for hopping down the hallway. "Wait, you mean cutting class?"

She glanced at me and shrunk back at my disapproving look. "Hey, hey, if I hadn't been out there you'd be being digested, right now."

I noted the logic in it and shrugged as we set back off. "True, true. So where are we going now?"

"Oh, I know this awesome room- it's a secret room that us students aren't supposed to know about, but… I have my ways."

I smirked. "You mean you eavesdropped."

"Yup. We can sort everything out once we get there. Something tells me you're not supposed to be here." She grinned and pulled a torch out of the wall, pressing a small knob that was behind it. A small door opened in the side of a statue (I would have missed it if Tashie hadn't begun to poke and prod in the stone foot of… A giant Alice), which revealed a set of buttons and knobs (which Tashie pressed and turned with practiced ease), which opened a door in the wall, covered by a tapestry.

"Well… That's not complicated at all." I muttered dryly as I followed the girl down a set of stone steps.

"It really isn't once you figure out the overall jest of it."

"And what is the overall jest of it?"

"That's for me to know and you not to." She sang out cheerfully, which caused me to scowl darkly at her back. "Okay, here we are!" She pushed open a door to revel a ball-like room covered in strange and ancient symbols. A giant tree seemed to be at the center of the room, with it's enormous roots going out across the floor and branches winding themselves around the tons of balconies over-looking the open space. Doors half hidden in the roots of the walls led every which way, and I found it no surprise that Tashie could slip in here and spend hours without ever being found out.

"Whoa…" I gawked at the room before us and took a few steps forward after Tashie. "This is so cool."

"Uh, yeah. Why else would I hang out in here?"

I rolled my eyes, getting used to her sarcastic remarks by now. Okay, now explain some things, okay?"

"Right, what do want to know?" She sat down, cross-legged on a low branch.

"Well, how about we start with this whole 'warping thing." I walked over and sat down on a spot on the floor. The moment I did, however, iron bars slammed up around us and I leapt to my feet at the same time as Tashie.

"What the heck?!" I heard Tashie shout from behind me. "I can't warp out!" I glanced at her, but before I could ask anything, a laugh cut me off.

"Of course, dearie, why would I let my precious meal escape for the second time in one day." I gulped and turned to face the pale, sadistic smirk of Bal-Lali. "You won't be getting away this time."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Alice in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat, When the Higurashi Cry, Full Metal Alchemist, or Bizenghast.**

Second Chapter! And, yes, this one becomes even more random then the last! How is that possible? You'll find out.

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Chapter 2

"Go away, you ugly witch!" Tashie shouted angrily (well, technically she said something different, that started with a 'b' but for the rating of this story I'll keep it the way it is).

Bali-Lali faltered. "What?" she screeched, "You're in no position to be saying that, girl." To prove her point, she moved closer and took Tashie's chin in her hand, a fingernail making a fine slice across my new friends' cheek.

"Get away from her!" I shouted, then shrunk back and bit my lip as Bali-Lali turned her black eyes to me.

"Did you say something, precious?" She left Tashie and headed back towards the large tree at the back of the room. "No matter. I'll finally get back at that selfish 'headmistress' you Warpers look up to so much. Ha! She's a (she said something here that I am editing out for, once again, the rating of this story)!"

"Really? Oh, I thought that's what you were." Tashie muttered. If Bali-Lali had heard her, she didn't act like it, she just kept speaking seemingly to herself as the mad look in her eyes grew.

"It was my job, really, but she stole it from me. It should've been mine! It should be mine!" She spun around to face us and I winced at the dementia contorting her face. "Now I'll have it. With you two as hostages," She began to cackle, "The headmistress will have to fall into my trap." She looked at us and smirked. "Now, you two just stay here, and I'll be right back. And don't try to leave- I have a shield on this place. If you try to get out you'll be fried." She grinned and disappeared up the stairs.

"Well, this is just great." I said sarcastically, eyeing the cage.

"But now I can warp out of this thing- she must have lifted the Binding when she left. She must really trust that shield." Tashie was suddenly in front of me, unlocking the door to the cage. "Here you are." She said as she pulled it open. I stepped out, grateful to be… semi-free again.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Now let's get out of here!"

Suddenly, a shriek sounded around the room and a drop of something landed on my hand. It was glowing and looked like a drop of just… Light. I looked up to see light dripping out of a crack in the ceiling. Before I could inquire as to what this strange new apparition was, the light suddenly began to spread out until the entire ceiling was covered. I winced and shut my eyes against the light. When I opened them again, everything was back to normal… Almost.

"What the heck?!" Tashie screamed. I looked over at her. There was something in her arms. "A freaking baby fell from the ceiling!" The thing in her arms moved and a head with a sparse amount of hair on it emerged from the bundle of blankets. It opened two large, blue eyes… And screamed really, really loudly.

Now there's something you need to know about me, I don't go ga-ga over little kids like most girls. I, for one, think they're loud and annoying, especially this one. After 10 minutes the stupid thing still wouldn't shut up!

"Can't you get it to be quiet?" I snapped to Tashie who was attempting to quiet the evilittlebundleofpureevilness!

"I'm trying! This is harder than it looks!" She snapped back as she rocked it gently. Her harsh voice made it cry harder. "Now look what you did!"

"Me? It's not my fault!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Agh! Why can't we just leave it here and find a way out?" I cried eventually.

"Why? Because Bali-Lali will come back and eat it!" Tashie shouted.

"… So?" I asked innocently, tilting my head to the side.

Tashie glared at me. "We are_ not_

I sighed. "Fine. But can't we do something other than just sit here and wait for Bali-Lali to come back?"

"Just wait a minute, okay? And be quiet!"

I spent the next five minutes sulking in a corner.

"There," Tashie said eventually, setting the (now sleeping) baby down gently. "Now all we have to do is be quiet and not wake it up."

I stood up and stretched. "Finally!" I drawled out. "That took you, like, forever!"

The girl rolled her eyes and pulled me off to the side. "Come on, we need to figure out how to get out of here." Once we were far enough away from the baby to whisper without the fear of wakening it, she began to speak. "So Bali-Lali said she cast a shield on this place, right?" I nodded. "Well, when someone makes a shield around a place, it usually forms a dome above the ground. So I'm thinking…"

"We can go_ under _

Sh!" She hissed, "Don't wake it up!"

She moved away her hand and I laughed nervously. "Right, my bad." I whispered.

"Anyways, yeah. I'm sure there's some underground passage around here- I've found a ton above ground, but I haven't specifically looked for one under ground, either. So let's go! Tell each other when we find something."

"Right." I nodded in understanding and we split up. It was then that I realized that I had no idea how to look for secret passages. I resorted to using my movie knowledge and tapping on various laces on the floor with my ear to it, removing pictures from the walls, tapping on the walls, and eventually turned and asked Tashie if there were any libraries.

Other than the odd look she gave me, she didn't really ask why and showed me to a door that had some steps leading to one of the balconies. Once at the balcony, there was a door at the back that led to a very, very big library. Books went all the way up to the ceiling with rolling ladders to allow access to them, comfy-looking sofas, chairs and the occasional table were scattered around, and the whole room was lit by the same chandeliers as in the rest of the school, although this one was more of the Victorian style, rather than gothic.

"Thanks, Tashie." I muttered and headed over to a shelf. I moved my hand along the many volumes, stopping on a thick, red, leather-bound book. I pulled it out and… Nothing happened. I put it back and did the same to the next one. Still, nothing happened.

"Um… Jo?" Tashie asked. I turned to see her staring at me with a raised eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean? It's a library! Where else to look for a secret passage? In all the stories they're always in libraries!"

"Don't you mean storage rooms? Secret passages are always in storage rooms?"

"In your world, maybe, but not in mine!"

"And… Which world are we in now?"

I paused my frantic 'pull out a book and put it back as fast as possible, then pull it out again halfway to see if anything happens' and looked at her again. She was smirking.

"Well is there a storage area in here?" Her smirk faltered. "I didn't think so." With that I resumed searching for a passage. I heard Tashie sigh behind me, and then the sound of books being pulled out and put back. I smiled- with the two of us at it- we were sure to find it.

About 30 minutes later Tashie and I were laying in the middle of overturned furniture and books that looked like they had been pulled out and dropped on the floor so fast that they had almost been thrown.

"You and you're 'Oh, I love libraries! There'll definitely be a secret passage in here!'" Tashie mocked, panting from all the work of completely destroying the library.

"Shut up." I scowled, equally tired out.

"I'll go check downstairs." I heard Tashie get up and leave as I stared at the scene of a mermaid in a lake painted on the ceiling. It was a really cool painting. In fact it reminded me of this one book where these people met these mermaid who took them to this giant tree that's roots' extended underneath the water and if you swam along them you reached this hidden entrance to the inside of the tree… "Not like anything'll be there. Just that dumb tree and all it's roots sticking out over the floor and tripping me…" Tashie muttered to herself as she left.

My eyes widened. "Tashie!" I yelled, jumping up.

"WAH!"

Tashie turned to face me slowly. I gulped as I saw the murderous expression on her face. "You _woke it up_ sleep this time!

But, Tashie! The tree roots! There could be a secret passage!" I shouted, arms in front of me trying to defend myself before an angry Warper murdered me.

Tashie blinked and all signs of previous anger vanished. Her eyes lit up. "Hey! That's a great idea! Here, come one! Now, the entrance obviously isn't in the roots of the trunk, or else we would've found it, so it must be in the branches!" She grabbed my wrist and literally dragged me down the steps and to the main room. She let go of me and crossed to a door on the other side of the room while shouting over her shoulder, "Get the baby and come on!"

I blinked- and then it sunk in. "… WHAT?" I screamed and looked at the crying baby next to me. It looked at me too and I could almost see the lasers firing from each of our eyes.

"Come on!" I heard Tashie yell.

I sighed and knelt down, awkwardly carrying the bundle in both my arms, sort of the way I carried my cats back home. Then, a miracle happened. It stopped screaming and fell asleep. I eyed it warily as I crossed over to where Tashie was waiting for me.

"Wow, you got it to fall asleep. You must have a way with kids."

"Yeah, it's called hating them." I muttered. Tashie laughed and pushed open the door to a broom closet, then stepped inside and motioned for me to do the same.

I stared at as if she'd gone mental, for all I knew, she was never very mentally stable to begin with, but now I thought she might have lost what little sanity she had. "It's a broom closet."

"No, I thought it was a lake," She snapped sarcastically. I pouted. "Just get in! We don't know when Bali-Lali will be back!" I hesitated a moment, then, deciding it wouldn't do any harm, slipped into the tiny room next to her. She closed the door and hit a small lump in the wall that looked like there had been a hole and somebody did a really bad job covering it up. She then leaned back and did absolutely nothing. I waited a few moments for something to happen, and, when nothing did, turned to Tashie.

"Well?"

She opened an eye to look at me. "Well what?"

"Aren't we going somewhere? Or are we going to sit in a closet all day?"

"Patience, Josephine."

I growled and clenched my fists a little too tightly around the baby, just tight enough, in fact, to wake it up and have it start screaming in my ear. Great. Now I was going to sit in a broom closet all day with a crazy person and a screaming baby.

I must have looked pretty miserable, because Tashie laughed suddenly and said, "Look, we're moving now." Indeed we were moving, if the slight vibrating of the room meant anything. After a minute or so of vibrating and the doors still not opening, I began trying to get the baby to shut up. I tried Tashie's method of rocking it back and forth and all that, but it wasn't working. Eventually I gave up and handed it to Tashie, who worked at it for a bit and soon got it to fall asleep. She smirked at me. I glared at her.

The doors opened suddenly to reveal another balcony that was on one of the branches of the tree. We began to look around, pressing every knob and tapping every crack we came across.

"Alright, how about this; one of will hold the baby, while the other one climbs up a bit more and looks for something!" Tashie said after neither of us found anything.

"Got it! You hold the baby and I'll climb!"

"Works for me." Tashie said and sat down.

I grinned and grabbed onto a knob in one of the branches, using it to pull myself up and place my foot in a crack in the bark. Pretty soon I was about 10 feet above Tashie and hadn't found anything. I kept going. After a couple minutes of no knew discoveries, I looked down to shout to ask Tashie If I should keep going or go around the other side. For a brief moment, I looked right past the balcony Tashie was on and saw how high up the closet-elevator ad taken us. I swallowed even though my throat was dry and quickly turned back around to face the tree and cling to the bark.

'Damnit.' I thought, 'I forgot my fear of heights.' I took a deep breath. 'Alright, Jo, you can do this- you're really not that far away from the balcony, just look straight at Tashie. It's really not that high- and if you do fall, Tashie can warp up, grab you, and warp back and you'll be fine.' After a minute or so of more 'boost-up Jo's spirit' talk, I swallowed my fear and turned around again. This time I looked directly at Tashie.

"Tashie!" I shouted. I winced at the scratchiness of my voice. "Hey, Tashie!" I shouted again, voice returning somewhat to its' original tone.

Tashie looked up. "What?" She called up.

"I haven't found anything! Should I go around the other side and check?"

She seemed to think for a moment before replying, "No, keep going! Usually all the secret passages around here can be found from a bunch of different places. I think it'd be weird for it to only be able to be reached from one side." She called up. I nodded and continued climbing, pressing every knob and crack I could. Eventually I came to a hollow hole, about a foot or so wide. I bit my lip and thought for a moment. I could a) stick my hand in and be bitten by something unpleasant b) stick my hand in and be bitten by something pleasant or c) stick my hand in it and find a secret passage. Or I could simply not stick my hand in at all and keep going… Nah, too boring. I shoved my hand into the darkness before I could change my mind and began to feel around. I felt a knob deep in the back and pressed in with my palm. I heard Tashie shout in surprise and the baby start screaming.

"You did it!" Tashie shouted. "Something opened! Come on!"

I smiled and looked down. Bad idea. I closed my eyes and sighed, then slowly began to lower myself down to the knob a few inches below my foot. After a very nerve-racking climb down, I was back with Tashie… And the child- it was still crying.

"Good job, Jo! You did it!" She slapped me a high five and I laughed, my heart beat returning to normal.

"Alright! I did it! Let's go!" I shouted, pumping my fist in the air.

The secret passage was more of a tunnel carved through the trunk of the tree, and we spent the first bit of it climbing down stairs to get back down to ground level. After that we went down a few more stairs until we came to a long and narrow, gradually sloping, just plain tunnel. The only light came from a few random glowing veins in the walls, and so it was sort of creepy. We walked in silence for quite a while (the baby had fallen asleep- yes!) until I finally asked something that had been bugging me for a while.

"Hey, Tashie."

"Hm?" She kept walking but glanced back at me to let me know I had her attention.

"What if.... What if this doesn't work and the shield is still up even under ground? What will happen to us?"

Tashie didn't say anything for a while.

"Tashie?" I asked tentatively, "What will happen?"

"… Let's not think about that. Hopefully this will work." She turned her head over her shoulder and (appeared to be) smiling encouragingly at me. Obviously she wasn't used to doing that kind of thing because it came out as more of a grimace. It was the thought that counted though, so I smiled weakly back at her. This whole thing was making me pretty nervous. We continued on in silence for I don't know how long. I kept thinking that Bali-Lali would be coming after us and glancing at the shadows behind us. I guess Tashie was thinking the same thing because she kept stealing glances over her shoulder, too. Eventually, we came to a dead end.

"Wha-?" I gasped, horrified at the thought that all this had been pointless and Bali-Lali would eat us anyway. "A dead end? It can't be!"

"Hn." I looked over at Tashie. She was smirking. "You're right. It can't be. I know this place- and there's probably another latch somewhere that'll get us out. Here," She shoved the bundle of covers in my arms. "Hold the baby while I search."

I fumbled with the baby for a bit, then froze once I had it in my grasp, waiting for it's eyes to open and the screams to come. To my great surprise, they didn't. Aside from shifting a bit in its sleep, the baby remained completely unaffected. I looked up at Tashie who was pressing random parts of the wall.

"Ha!" She shouted as she pressed on a certain rock, "Got it-" Just then the floor opened up beneath us.

I screamed something that I've edited out of this story so that my parents don't kill me. Yet, through some miracle, I didn't drop the baby (though I do think that I may have bruised it because I was holding onto it so tight.). Next to me, Tashie was... Well, I have no idea what she was doing- I was screaming too loud to notice anything else. Next thing I knew, I had crash-landed into a desk- onto some poor person who looked like they were taking notes. Then Tashie crashed into me (no babies were harmed in the making of this story- I don't know how they managed, but they were fine).

"Nice of you to drop in." A stern voice spoke and I looked up.

"Uh…" Tashie gulped. "H-hi Mr. Donnelly…. What's up?"

Mr. Donnelly glared. "Natasha, I thought you were taking this new student to Ms. Parvarti's class? Last time I checked that was in the East wing- this is the West."

"Well, you see, we were-"

"None of your excuses, Nastasha." Mr. Donnelly cut in, "You're going to pay a visit to the headmistress."

I swallowed hard and looked from Tashie to the teacher. Once in third grade on the bus I remembered a time that my friend who sat next to me had opened the fire escape, and then when then hid when the bus driver came up to see what was going on. He ended up yelling at me while my friend just stood to the side and didn't say anything. Yeah, I was pretty annoyed, and I promised myself that I'd never do something and blame it on anyone else again. "Wait!" I called out suddenly. Mr. Donnelly turned to look at me. "It's not her fault! You see, she found me, and I was lost and I had no idea where I was. You see, as I remember it, I was walking to History class at school, and then suddenly I was in the middle of some weird hallway. Tashie found me and was taking me around, and then this thing came and attacked us!" My little speech was met with a suspicious glare from Mr. Donnelly.

"It's true!" Tashie cut in, "It's Bali-Lali- she's here!"

This got the teacher's attention. "Bali-Lali? Here?" Tashie and I nodded furiously. "Everyone stay here, Joe's in charge." With that said, he left, and a boy (who I presumed to be Joe) leapt into the air and shouted some cheers, then went to join his friends off to one corner.

I was left with Tashie to introduce me to everyone in the class (after storing the baby in the corner, of course). I found out that I had interrupted the grammar class- and no one was too disappointed about it, either. The person Tashie and I had crash-landed on was Tashie's friend, Hailey (Tashie had poked fun at Hailey saying that it had to have been her we landed on- anyone else would've had the brains to move out of the way- Hailey kicked her). There were 20 people in total (21 including Tashie) and each them were a bit, er, different. Such as the one named Rhys who had a strange habit of bursting into song… But in a really high pitch that I didn't know was possible to reach.

It was all rather calm considering there was a spider-lady running around the school somewhere… Well, I got the feeling things were never 'calm,' but as calm as things usually were. Tashie introduced me to Annie, Fiona, Sarah, Serena, Allie and Hailey, they were all pretty nice, and more sane than Tashie, so that was good. Hailey was talking to Annie, Fiona, and Allie about a necklace she saw at a store the other day, Serena was shouting at Sarah (who, for some reason, had a rat peeking out from her pocket) for pointing at someone, and Tashie was off kicking some boy in the shins. I drifted over to her.

"Um… Tashie? What are you doing?"

Tashie stopped and looked at me. "Oh, Davis just called me stupid so I'm taking care of him." She kicked Davis one more time and he fell down, holding his ankles.

"Ow! Geez, Natasha!" She kicked him again, "Ow!"

"Well then!" She said, turning to me cheerfully. "What's up? Met everyone yet?"

"Um… Most of them, I guess."

"Okay… Hey! Where's the baby?" I blinked and looked over to the corner where we had set it down. It wasn't there.

I looked at Tashie "… Who cares?" She looked ready to murder me. "Just kidding! Just kidding! I mean, it can't be that far away- see it's right there being dragged across the room by that house-cat sized panda…" I stopped. "Why is there a house-cat sized panda in your classroom?"

Tashie laughed, her anger forgotten. "That's Larry- the class pet. Here, Larry! Here, boy!"

I watched as the panda slowly meandered across the room to Tashie's outstretched hand. 'A tiny panda? Is that even possible?' I thought as I eyed it warily. Then again, it was better than the baby. Speaking of which- it was crying. Again. It was really starting to bug me.

"Tashie," I whined, "Get the baby to be quiet!"

"Aw it's so cute!" A girl exclaimed and went over to kneel down by it. The two girls who were next to her did the same thing. If I remembered correctly, they were Lauren, Lachlan, and Briana.

"What's her name?" Lachlan asked, looking at Tashie.

"Uh… I dunno. She sort of fell from the ceiling." Tashie got a lot of weird looks for this. "Well, I mean, I'm guessing it was a portal- because there was a flash of light and then it fell from the ceiling!"

"It does sound like a portal..." Annie said as she, Hailey, Fiona, Allie, Serena and Sarah drifted over.

"I wonder why a portal would open up here." Serena muttered to herself, seeming to be deep in thought. I, as usual, had no idea what anyone was talking about, but decided to keep my mouth shut anyway.

"She needs a name." Lachlan stated.

"Yeah, let's call her Rachel!" Lauren suggested.

"No, Zoey." Briana cut in.

"How about Claire?" Serena asked. Sarah slapped her for mentioning her sister's name.

"How do you even know it's a girl?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

This seemed to stump them for a bit. Finally Lauren replied, "Because... It just _is_.

Just then the door flew open and teachers rushed in. The students already in the classroom were split in half- the more logical ones (such as Serena) looked freaked out because there was obviously something wrong. The other half looked ready to yell at them for barging in without knocking (Tashie). A woman began to herd all the students into a corner, while some teachers were crowded around in a circle and moving something into the back of the classroom. The rest of the teachers took up defensive positions and barricaded the door.

As the students (and moi) sat around looking rather confused and asking what was going on, some of the teachers in the circle parted a bit to reveal a man with one arm. And judging by the look of immense pain on his face and he blood covering his side, I'd say he'd lost that arm rather recently. Someone next to me screamed, obviously I wasn't the only one who had seen it.

"Mr. Elric!"

Heads immediately began turning.

"Oh my god- it is Mr. Elric!"

"Is he okay?"

"Yes, he's perfectly fine- does he look okay?!"

"… Holy ****"

"Ryan, don't curse!" The teacher keeping us in the corner snapped.

A small 'plop' was heard and a large blob of blood was suddenly next to one of the teacher in circles' feet. I gulped down the feeling that I was about to vomit. Apparently someone else wasn't as good at it as me, because I heard retching coming from somewhere in the crowd of teenagers. That really didn't help me keep it down either.

"Everyone just stay calm!" One of the teachers at the front of the room shouted. "Students stay in the corner! Teachers, be ready!" The room arrangement pretty much looked like this: All the students huddled in back corner next to a few teachers surrounding the injured Mr. Elric, some teachers in front of the students, and about 8 teachers at the front of the room.

Suddenly something banged on the door. The teachers had done a rather nice job of apparently melting the edges of the door into the wall, as well as adding a couple… boulders in front of it. Whatever was outside banged on the door a couple more times. It seemed like it couldn't get through. It also seemed like every time it hit it, it got closer to getting in. Suddenly, the banging stopped. We sat in silence- I didn't even dare to breath, and, going by the looks of the people near me, they didn't, either. We seemed to sit perfectly still in complete terror for an eternity. Just as it seemed like whatever had been trying to get in had given up and left, an explosion left my ears ringing, and the next thing I knew there was a sharp pain in my back and I was thrown across the room, along with most of the other students. I gasped in pain as I landed, and, with great effort, turned to see the wall I had just been sitting by completely gone. Bits of the wall were scattered around the floor, some so big that they had trapped a student underneath them. And in the midst of all the rubble stood Bali-Lali- looking like she just stumbled upon a very tasty meal.

* * *

A word about the baby. When I planned out this story, I had no intention of having a baby randomly drop from the ceiling. However, the day we started to work on the second chapter, my Language Arts teacher decided that, within the first page and a half of the second chapter, we needed to have a baby enter the story. Therefore- I had a ton of baby Bali-Lalis come out.

Then, after I was almost done with the chapter, my teacher gleefully announced that the baby had to be human... I was not pleased. But you read what came out of it, and I suppose that it really adds to the whole sense of Delirium that runs wild in this Wonderland. Hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Alice in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat, When the Higurashi Cry, Full Metal Alchemist, or Bizenghast.**

Last chapter! The adventure ends.... Or does it?

* * *

Chapter 3

"So… Who is going to be first?" Bali-Lali asked, advancing upon us. I gulped from my position on the floor, glad that she wasn't looking at me. She turned her head and looked directly at me. I mentally cursed myself for jinxing it. "You! I'll get you!" She began to advance towards me and I struggled against the pain to sit up. Before she got to me, however, she suddenly leapt away, and a moment later a bolt of blue energy flew right past where she had just been. I looked over in the direction it came from, just in time to see Bali-Lali tackle one of the teachers.

Another teacher pulled out some sort of mini-cannon thing and fired several pellets at Bali-Lali they hit their target, exploding in a burst of light and a 'pop,' causing Bali-Lali to shriek in pain. I covered my ears to block out the sound, and made my way slowly and painfully across the floor to behind a large piece of rubble. It hurt all down my back, especially when I tried to bend or twist it any way.

Bali-Lali lunged at the teacher with the cannon, who fired another pellet thing right in her face. Once again, inhuman shrieks filled the room as a few drops of black blood dripped from the thing's face to the floor. She made a swiping motion at the teacher, and they went flying across the room, hitting the wall with a dull thud and sliding to the ground, unconscious. Bali-Lali soon had numerous teachers firing weapons and using their abilities against her.

"Yo," Someone whispered coarsely in my ear. I suppressed a scream and whipped around to come face-to-face with Tashie.

"Tashie! A-are you okay?"

"As good as I can be, I guess." She gave me a half-hearted smile, and I took in the many bruises and scratches all over her. I didn't see anything too bad, so I guessed she was telling the truth.

"What about everyone else?"

"I dunno. It's been so crazy I haven't been able to get a good look around…" she glanced around the room, though her eyes (and mine) kept dashing back to Bali-Lali. "Look! There's someone!" I looked where she was pointing and, sure enough, there was Davis, Annie, Ryhs, Sarah and Hailey, all huddled behind a pile of rubble.

"Well at least they're okay, but..." My eyes wandered to something I had seen right after Bali-Lali had first come in- I had hoped it had been my imagination, but there was no mistaking the mop of curly hair sticking out from beneath a piece of rubble. "Oh, god, Serena!"

Tashie looked at where I was staring and gasped. "Oh my god… But she's still moving! At least that's sort of a plus… Okay, no it's not, but you get what I mean!"

"No one ever gets what you mean." I snapped.

"Hey! Shut up!"

"Well, what have we here? You think this scrap'll help hide you?" the two of us froze and turned to stare up at the thing towering over us. Bali-Lali began to cackle. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that won't save you!" She dived suddenly at us and I scrunched my eyes shut, positive I was about to be eaten. I think I even saw my life flash before my eyes. I got to when I was 4 and my sister had pushed me off that brick wall, when something pushed me. Hard. I went flying to the side and opened my eyes to see Bali-Lali biting into the floor. I was amused at the disgusted look she gave when she realized what she's eaten, but at the same time I was terrified that that had almost been me. Then, whatever force had been holding me in the air (gravity-controlling teacher) suddenly vanished and I hit the floor. I cried out form the pain that shot up my back, but quickly stifled it, biting my lip so hard it bled.

"Are you alright?" A teacher with long brown hair stood with their back to me.

"I-I'm fine." I managed to gasp out, obviously not fine. "Don't… Don't worry."

Bali-Lali lunged toward him and he ducked out the way, pulling out a gun and firing it several times. Suddenly, he was pulling the trigger and nothing was happening. I saw the panic on his face and the maniacal grin on Bali-Lali. A thousand thoughts whirled around my head. Bali-Lali- was done playing- her next attack would be lethal. I couldn't do anything. I curled my hands into a fist and felt something cold. I looked down to see that I had grasped some sort of metal bar that must have been in part of something in the walls. Without hesitating, I gripped it with both hands and lunged at Bali-Lali. She whipped around, not expecting it and I swiped at one of her legs, knocking it out from under her. She stumbled a bit, giving the teacher enough time to gather some sort of purple energy in his hand and charge forward, plunging his fist right through her stomach. She let out a howl, causing me and everyone else in the room to wince and cover their ears, then seemed to explode in on herself and crumpled down into a bloody mass.

All my energy wasted, I felt the pain in my back full throttle again. It was complete silence for a few minutes, while everyone warily eyed the body, making sure she was dead. Then, noise erupted from most everyone (a.k.a the students). My eyelids were drooping, and my vision was going in and out of blurry, but I found myself vaguely aware of what was going on. Tashie was shouting at teachers for not getting Serena out fast enough, and the rest of the students were running around helping out those who were injured out from where they were stuck and bandaging wounds, then taking them to the gradually growing line of injured persons in front of a few teachers that apparently were trained in medical skills.

"Jo!" someone shouted, causing me to jump a little. I sluggishly turned my head towards the teacher from before. "Jo, is that your name?" I nodded slowly. "Are you okay?" I nodded again, and then everything went black.

'Where am I? and why aren't I at school?" groaned softly and opened my eyes, then shut them again tightly. It was way too bright. Plus, it was all white. Looking at white things hurt my eyes normally, and I definitely couldn't deal with it after being unconscious… Then everything came back to me.

"Serena!" I cried out, sitting up, "Ow-!" I winced and shut my eyes from the pain in my back. "Ow, my back…"

"Take it easy, Jo." I looked up to see Tashie sitting by the white bed that I was laying in, dressed in all white clothes.

"… Am I in a hospital? What happened? Is Serena okay?"

"Geez, geez, calm down, Jo, relax!" She waited for me to lie back down before continuing. "Serena's fine. She was a bit beat up, but she's fine now. Unlike you. That was cool, hitting Bali-Lali, I always thought you were a wimp, but I guess you have some strong points. "

"So… Everyone's alright?"

"Yeah. Apparently you messed up your spine, so the nurses pretty much kept you out of it 'til it mostly healed, otherwise you'd be in a ton of pain."

"You say it so light-heartedly…" I muttered dryly. "Makes me wonder if you actually care."

"Why would I care about you?"

I scowled at her and she smiled lightly and shrugged. "Wait… How long have I been out of it?"

"About a week… Why?"

"A week?" I cried, jumping up, "Ah! I have to go! I'm going to have so much make-up work to do! My parents probably think I'm dead or something! How am I supposed to explain something like this to them?"

As I began going off on some long thing about how my life would be ruined, Tashie observed me from the side with a slightly exasperated and mostly disgusted look. "Dude… Chill!" She shouted. I stopped mid-rant and looked at her. "…You're not even going to ask about him, are you?"

"Huh? Who?"

"The baby, smart one!"

"Baby? Oh, yeah! Sorry, I forgot about it."

Tashie looked ready to bang her head repeatedly against a wall. "Jo! Ah, whatever. It's a boy. Lauren was wrong. He's been named Thomas by the class. We had to turn down the boys' idea of naming him 'Beast.'

"Heh. That's the name of an X-men."

"A what?"

"Never mind. Anyways, it's going to be our new class pet!"

"Your what?"

"Class pet! You know, like Larry."

"Tashie," I explained slowly, "You can't have a baby as a class pet."

"You can until it grows!" she retorted.

"But you can't- ah, never mind."

"Anyways, I'm just glad you're not freaking out about going home anymore."

My eyes widened. "Oh my god! Aaaaaah! I'm going to be so late1 I'm going to be grounded forever! I've never been grounded before! I'm going to die!"

"Jo, shut up! You don't even know how to get home! Shouldn't you worry about that before how late you're going to be when you do get home?"

"That won't be a problem." A commanding voice spoke from the doorway, and I turned to see a woman in dark, flowing robes that dragged on the floor not enough to look stupid, but just long enough for it to give the impression that she every time she walked the cloth flowed and rippled like wind or water.

"H-head mistress!" Tashie snapped to attention and, frankly, I was rather impressed. There weren't many people that held authority over Tashie, or Tashie actually allowed them to have authority over her.

"Head mistress?" I asked aloud.

The woman chuckled. "Yes, I believe you are talking about me. And there is no need to worry about not being able to get home. While you were unconscious we researched the portal you came through. It wasn't as much a portal, though, as it was, what we call, a Looking Glass Transfer."

"Then that mirror was real…." I muttered.

"Yes, it was a Looking Glass. Capitalized. They float throughout the dimensions and randomly appear, allowing anything that comes into contact with them to be transferred to another dimension parallel to theirs."

"So this is a parallel universe?"

"I believe that's what you'd call it, yes."

"Oh… So, how am I going to get back?"

"Follow me." She turned and left.

About an hour later I was standing in the middle of the secret room Tashie had first taken me to, surrounded by some complex diagram the teachers had drawn. Tashie was right next to the edge of the diagram and waving.

"Bye, Jo!"

"Yeah- see you Tashie!"

"Yup!" she shouted back, "Don't worry- I'll come and crash your class party!"

"Sure- because my class is always a party!" I called sarcastically. We both laughed and I turned to the head mistress.

She shouted an order to the teachers positioned evenly outside the diagram, and they each placed their hands on a symbol and chanted something.

"See you soon!" I heard Tashie yell.

A sudden bright light filled my vision, and the next thing I knew I was on a sidewalk, sitting on something hard. I stood up and looked at what I had landed on. It was a pencil bag. There was also a notebook and a textbook, along with an agenda. I picked up the notebook.

"Oh, someone must have dropped these, I wonder who they belong to…" I flipped it over and blinked. On the back, scrawled in hasty handwriting, was 'Josephine Wissmann.' "Huh? But that's me!" I looked at the things scattered on the ground again. They looked an awful lot like my history supplies. I picked them up and began walking. It really seemed like no time had passed since I'd been left. I had been wrong thinking that the same amount of time would pass here as it did there. I slowed my pace a bit. That was a lot better than I had expected- I had thought I'd been gone for a week and had somehow come to the conclusion that I would be sent to jail in Australia (not sure how I came to that, but I did…). I used to be way too up tight. Tashie would be angry if she knew. Now, it didn't seem like such a big deal to be late to History class.

Two minutes later I got detention.

Afterward

Tick

Tock

Tick

Tock

I sat in a practically empty room with my (already finished) homework set to one side. Some old, fat, and bald teacher sat behind a desk at the front of the room, reading a newspaper and occasionally looking up at me and glaring. The tock was clicking way too loud to be normal- I think it's some torture method public school's use on kids in detention. It was incredibly boring. I sighed (the teacher glared at me for making the slightest bit of noise) and found myself thinking back to the Other Bradley Middle School. It seemed so unreal. But then I got back, and my normal school day seemed unreal, too.

'Great, Tashie, thanks,' I thought sourly, 'now everything's unreal.' As I replayed the events in my head, my mind flashed back to what Tashie had said right before I'd disappeared.

'See you soon,' I think it was…. My eyes widened, and that's when I realized that she had been serious.

* * *

If you've read this far then CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! Thank you for reading my humble works... Technically this was what I turned in for my 'short story' project... It was the longest in the class with 20 pages single-spaced. My teacher was thrilled when I handed it in... Not. In fact, when I got it back there was a strange scribbling on one of the pages. My teacher claimed that it was his young son who had done it, but I know better. *nods smartly*

Anyways, I hope you liked it, and if not... Have a cookie. And, if you did like it, you have a cookie too. :)


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